Cornell football recruiting class officially announced

[www.cornellbigred.com]

The first time in a long time that I remember where we are only bringing in 4 offensive lineman. Maybe they will concentrate on OL in the next recruiting class. Cornell led the league in giving QB sacks and that needs to improve if only to ensure the health of whomever is the starting QB.

Well, you only play with 5 OL at a time -- let's hope it's quality over quantity

scoop85
Well, you only play with 5 OL at a time -- let's hope it's quality over quantity

We can only hope. That area already lost some players through attrition and you need quality depth through a season. Sophmore Josh Grider is very talented and if he stays healthy, he should reach All-Ivy status.

Coach DeLuca might be interested in this guy:

TE Ben Green – 6-7/245 — Belvedere, Calif. (Phillips Academy)
An all-league selection at tight end and defensive end, Green led his Brentwood School team to a league title and a spot in the CIF Southern section finals in 2007. He went on for a postgraduate season playing at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. playing both ways. He hauled in 14 passes for 216 yards in seven games, including a two-point conversion, and also made 36 tackles with a sack. Green was a two-year captain of the lacrosse team, earning honorable mention All-America accolades as a senior at Brentwood School on attack.

Brandon Thomas reports in the Ithaca Journal.

Coach Austin
"The group coming in, I feel like it's a well rounded class," Austin said. "We have quality players in many positions. They add immediate depth to our football team."

That's precisely what Cornell needs.

A wave of injuries is inevitable for every football team, but the Big Red was decimated by ailments last season. That's as much a sign of misfortune as it is a lack of depth.

Austin didn't hesitate to throw freshmen and sophomores into the mix, a trend that seems likely to continue with the Class of 2015.

"We went very young last year in some spots," Austin said. "We're just continuing to wear on that depth and tried to go after young men who are capable of playing right away."

Press releases can make the Tulane Class of '15 look like a looming gridiron threat in the southeast. Still it sounds as if Cornell football might be on the right track.

ithacat
Coach DeLuca might be interested in this guy:

TE Ben Green – 6-7/245 — Belvedere, Calif. (Phillips Academy)
An all-league selection at tight end and defensive end, Green led his Brentwood School team to a league title and a spot in the CIF Southern section finals in 2007. He went on for a postgraduate season playing at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. playing both ways. He hauled in 14 passes for 216 yards in seven games, including a two-point conversion, and also made 36 tackles with a sack. Green was a two-year captain of the lacrosse team, earning honorable mention All-America accolades as a senior at Brentwood School on attack.

Sign him up. Maryland had a player like this a few years ago (I'm blanking on his name). He transferred from Notre Dame's football team I believe and was a monster for UM for 2 seasons. Being 6'7" and strong is practically unguardable...

CUontheslopes

ithacat
Coach DeLuca might be interested in this guy:

TE Ben Green – 6-7/245 — Belvedere, Calif. (Phillips Academy)
An all-league selection at tight end and defensive end, Green led his Brentwood School team to a league title and a spot in the CIF Southern section finals in 2007. He went on for a postgraduate season playing at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. playing both ways. He hauled in 14 passes for 216 yards in seven games, including a two-point conversion, and also made 36 tackles with a sack. Green was a two-year captain of the lacrosse team, earning honorable mention All-America accolades as a senior at Brentwood School on attack.

Sign him up. Maryland had a player like this a few years ago (I'm blanking on his name). He transferred from Notre Dame's football team I believe and was a monster for UM for 2 seasons. Being 6'7" and strong is practically unguardable...

Thinking of Will Yeatman? That guy was huge. He played lax at ND before transferring too.

Also Ian Dingman, a high-scoring attackman for Navy around 2006-2007. Post a guy like that in the equivalent of the hockey slot and let him get high feeds from Pannell that he can drop in over the tender's shoulder.

ithacat
Coach DeLuca might be interested in this guy:

TE Ben Green – 6-7/245 — Belvedere, Calif. (Phillips Academy)
An all-league selection at tight end and defensive end, Green led his Brentwood School team to a league title and a spot in the CIF Southern section finals in 2007. He went on for a postgraduate season playing at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. playing both ways. He hauled in 14 passes for 216 yards in seven games, including a two-point conversion, and also made 36 tackles with a sack. Green was a two-year captain of the lacrosse team, earning honorable mention All-America accolades as a senior at Brentwood School on attack.

Actually, quite a few football recruits played lacrosse as well. Besides Green, the press release mentions lacrosse for Lavrentios (OL 6'5" 265), Turner (DB 6'0" 195 -- lacrosse captain at Boys Latin in MD no less), and I think if you Google a few of the other names plus "lacrosse" you'd see more.

Unlike hockey and baseball, the two seasons do not overlap (except for Spring football practice, which is not a big deal in the Ivies, and fall lax scrimmages). And since football is such a position-specific game, the two sports might emphasize different things, all of which are useful to both sports: different muscle groups, flexibility and quickness versus pure strength, different kinds of timing, aerobic endurance versus sporadic speed, etc. Add to this the fact that, as I understand it, each coach gets to list a number of high-priority recruits to the Admissions Office, so this would allow each of them a way to double dip.

So the question to ask is, could Jimmy Brown play football and lacrosse at Cornell these days? (Or Harry Orr, hockey and lacrosse?) If the answer is "Yes," then both coaches might benefit by encouraging their players to try to walk onto the other team.

Against this argument, there's the fact that more football recruits have lax potential than vice-versa. Also there's the danger of injuries, with (my impression being that) football injuries are more frequent and severe.

Of course, the players have to want to do both and all that entails.

Oh yeah, one other thing. Harkness used Orr for a very specific purpose. Harry had this very unusual, accurate, and nearly unstoppable submarine shot, which he would take from the midfield just outside the top of the defense. So while Orr didn't play as much as some of the other, one-sport players, Harry came into games at selected moments, and it would be almost as if Cornell were rolling out some secret weapon. Although zone defenses are uncommon in lacrosse, something like this might come in handy if we ever run into a zone defense. Who knows? It could happen.

Swampy
So the question to ask is, could Jimmy Brown play football and lacrosse at Cornell these days?

If I were to guess, if *Jimmy Brown* wanted to play lacrosse and football at Cornell, the coaches would accomodate him. But you'd have to be near as good as Jim Brown for the same treatment and he wouldn't be allowed at Syracuse. Syracuse football sucks but I still don't think they'd let him be a two-sport star. I may be wrong, though, since (a) Donovan McNabb played football and basketball and (b) lacrosse is probably a revenue-generating sport at Syracuse.

[/talking out of my ass

Who could forget the late great Cornell lacrosse player Eamon McEneaney who also played football.

"McEneaney was voted the outstanding player in the 1977 NCAA Championship game and represented the United States in the 1978 World Lacrosse Championships. He was inducted into the Cornell Sports Hall of Fame in 1982 and the national Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1993. In 1995, he was named to the NCAA's Silver Anniversary Lacrosse Team, recognizing his place among the best players of the first quarter century of NCAA lacrosse.

In addition to lacrosse, McEneaney excelled in football, Noel said. He lettered in 1974 and 1976 and was an outstanding wide receiver. He was named to the All-Ivy second team in 1976, when he led Cornell in receiving and was second in team scoring."